Fix What's Been Broken
by obeytherandomness
Summary: Naruto shows the village something that they never would have expected, and they realize how wrong they have been to hurt him. They decide to change their attitudes towards Naruto, but Sasuke is still suspicious of them. This is SasuNaru. I couldn't think of a better name, so if you have any suggestions please let me know
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Naruto

* * *

Naruto lay beaten on the ground as the villagers smirked above him. It was the day before the Kyuubi festival and the villagers always thought it was their duty to beat him, punish him, for the crimes that Kyuubi had committed. He had expected them to come and had even sensed their arrival, but he had done nothing to stop them. He promised himself long ago that he would never hurt any of the villagers no matter what they did to him.

"Look at the little monster just lying there," said one of the villagers. "I bet it's just waiting for us to turn our backs and then it is going to attack us."

"We can't allow that," said another villager as he took another swing at Naruto with his bat. Naruto made no move to stop him except to put his arms above his head so that his head wouldn't be bashed in.

"Why won't the demon just die?" hissed a woman. She wasn't going to hit him, the women rarely did when the men were around to give a harder hit, but the form of torture that they gave to Naruto was the worst. They often spoke the most painful of words that would stay with him for weeks, months, and even years. "No one wants it here. Can't we just kill it?"

"We aren't allowed to," said another villager.

"Why not?" asked the woman.

"The hokage will put us in jail."

"I think that the hokage should reward us for our service to this city," said the woman.

"Yea," agreed the villagers, "but somehow the demon has her under some sort of curse."

"I don't have her under a curse," said Naruto. "Baa-chan just likes me."

"Who could ever like you?" hissed the woman. "Who could ever like a demon?"

"I'm not a demon," he tried to say.

"Shut up," said the villagers with another bout of attacks.

"I'm not a demon," he said again.

"You are a demon," said the woman. "A filthy creature. A murderer. You are nothing but a demon."

"I'm not a demon," he repeated.

"Shut up," she said. "No one wants you here. Why don't you just die? Why don't you do this world a favor and kill yourself?"

Naruto whimpered as the villagers attacked him again. He could feel his bones being broken only to be healed so that they could be broken again. Kyuubi enjoyed the times that the villagers attacked Naruto. He enjoyed watching Naruto suffer and he would gladly heal the boy if it meant he could watch him suffer even more.

Finally, the villagers stopped, scoffing at how the demon wasn't worth their time, and turned to leave. Naruto stood and braced himself against the wall as Kyuubi healed yet another broken rib in hopes that someone else would come along to beat Naruto. He didn't know what made him do it, but he called out to the villagers making them turn to glare at him. They readied their weapons and advanced towards him to beat him once more, but they were stopped by Naruto's words.

"I thought it would be polite to answer your question," he said with a small pained smile.

"What?" asked the woman.

"I thought it would be polite to tell you why I haven't killed myself yet." The villagers remained where they stood. Despite themselves they were curious to hear what Naruto had to say and Naruto was actually surprised that they weren't going to attack him. "Did you know that Kyuubi heals all my wounds so well that they don't turn into scars?" he said as he pulled off his jacket to reveal the baggy black long sleeve shirt that rested underneath it. "He heals all of them except for one type of wound. For some reason the wounds that I inflict upon myself remain on my skin as a scar forever. I think it's because he likes to remind me that I have failed to serve my village by getting rid of the two of us." With a sad smile he pulled off his shirt to reveal his well-sculpted chest.

There was a gasp as the woman threw both her hands in front of her face in disgusted horror and several clattering sounds as all of the villagers dropped their weapons. They were shocked to see the boy before them. Yes, the boy, because in that moment they could no longer see him as a demon. They could only see a boy with scars all up both of his arms and across his chest. The scars even seemed to continue past Naruto's pant line where the villagers could not see. It seemed that there was no place untouched by the scars. There was even one that looked like a kunai had been thrust right into his heart. The villagers tried to convince themselves that Naruto was lying to them and that these wounds were just ones that he had gotten on missions. Naruto seemed to sense their doubts as he turned to show them his back, the only place that he was unable to reach on his own, which was completely flawless. He wasn't lying. All the scars had been inflicted on his own.

"So my answer to your question," Naruto said, "is that I've tried, but it's useless. Kyuubi won't let me kill myself. I've given up trying. I'm sorry." With that Naruto turned with his clothes in hand and left the alley that he had been attacked in. Naruto's words hit all of the villagers deeply. Especially when he had apologized for giving up in trying to commit suicide.

The woman collapsed to the floor with tears cascading down her face. How could she have done that to the poor, innocent boy? How could any of the villagers have hurt the child? How could they not notice that he was not a demon, but actually a boy who felt pain just like all of the rest of them? How could they be so cruel?

Without another word the villagers all returned home with their heads hung low. Each of them regretting all of the things that they had ever done to the boy and trying to find a good way to make up for all of the pain they had caused him.

* * *

Naruto lay in his bed silently pondering what had happened only hours ago. He had been so careful to hide his many scars from the people so he had no clue what had possibly prompted him to show the villagers that were beating him. Maybe he just got tired of them accusing him of purposefully living to torment them. He didn't know, but, whatever the reason was, they would probably all forget in the morning. He allowed himself to drift asleep, fully expecting to be awoken again in an hour or two by another villager who had decided to break into his apartment during a drunken stupor and beat him up. He didn't much care. He had gotten used to it by now. He even usually stayed awake all night waiting for them to come. Right now though, he felt so tired, and he just couldn't stay awake any longer. He drifted off into a sleep filled with nightmares just as he always has.

* * *

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, comments, or requests, please message me and I will read them all. Flames are accepted and used to make my stories better.

I have the next chapter written, but I didn't want to post everything at once, so I will post it in a week unless I get 5 comments before then.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning a loud knocking on the door awoke Naruto. It was probably Sasuke coming to get him. His alarm clock had broken a couple of days ago and ever since then Sasuke kept having to come and get him. He stood slowly and stretched his muscles before heading to the door and opening it. What he saw on the other side of the door actually shocked him. The baker that lived nearby was standing outside of his door with a white box held in his hand.

"Hello Naruto," the baker said with a sweet smile. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Naruto didn't know what he should do. He felt suspicious of the man, but he knew that if the man really wanted to do something to him he could just break down the door and Naruto couldn't really afford another one. Besides, he didn't want to be rude to the man. He nodded and stepped aside to allow him into his neat apartment.

"Thank you," said the baker. "I'm sorry to come so early, but my store opens soon so I had to drop this off now." He placed the box carefully onto the table.

"What is it?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

The baker laughed nervously. This situation was awkward for the both of them, but he was at least making an effort to make it feel like it wasn't. "It's a birthday cake," he said.

"For who?" asked Naruto.

The baker flinched. He had known that Naruto would act this way, but it still made him feel a pang of guilt. He was just trying to atone for the sins that he had done just like the rest of the village. He was just trying to make Naruto feel loved so that he wouldn't want to try to kill himself again. That's right, the whole village had heard of the event last night and they all felt guilty about what they had forced a young boy to do. "For you," he said.

"For me?" Naruto asked.

"That's right," said the baker with an uneasy smile. "Where are your plates?"

Naruto pointed to the area that he kept his dishes while he continued to stare at the box that held _his _birthday cake. He still couldn't believe that one of the villagers had done something like this for him. It had to be some sort of trick. Whatever was in that box couldn't be a cake.

When the baker opened the cupboard, he found dusty old plates that looked like they had never been used. He grimaced. There was no way that he would let Naruto eat off such a dirty plate. He quickly took down one of them and washed off the dust. Then he looked for the silverware and found them in one of the drawers. Thankfully they were completely clean. He took out a fork and a big knife and brought everything over to the table to place next to the white box.

The baker carefully opened the box to reveal a perfectly made seven-layer chocolate cake. "Do you like chocolate?" he asked. He hadn't known what to make for Naruto so the only choice that he could think of was to make his most requested cake. The one that he himself was the most fond of.

"I don't know," Naruto answered making the baker flinch once again. "I've never had chocolate before."

"You've never had chocolate before?" gasped the baker. "You have to try this cake then. I'm sure you'll love it." He cut off a slice, put it on the plate and handed it to Naruto. "Chocolate is very sweet and it tastes good with almost anything."

Naruto looked at the cake in his hand and began to prod at it with his fork as though he would find that it was poisoned just by doing that. The baker waited for him to take the first bite, but he just continued to prod at the cake with an unsure look on his face. Suddenly a look of clarity passed over the baker's face and he rushed over to grab another fork. "May I?" he asked as he leaned forward to take a bite off of Naruto's slice. Naruto flinched as the sharp object came towards him, but nodded his head in agreement anyway. The baker quickly took a small bite and popped it into his mouth without any hesitation. "Now you try."

Naruto prodded at the cake for a moment longer before he finally took a bite of it. Immediately he smiled as the tastes overwhelmed him. It was delicious. He continued to eat the delicious chocolate cake as the baker watched him with a satisfied smile. When he was done the baker took the plate and put it in the sink.

"Did you like it?" asked the baker as he quickly rinsed the plate off.

"I loved it," Naruto said happily. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," said the baker as he rushed out the door. "I have to go to work now before I'm late. I wish you a happy birthday."

This time it was Naruto who flinched. His birthday had never really been a good experience for him and he did not think that was going to change today.

* * *

When Sasuke arrived at Naruto's apartment the first thing that he noticed was that the baker was leaving. He immediately felt suspicious. The villagers only came here when they wanted to hurt Naruto. Naruto thought that he and Sakura hadn't noticed the way the villagers had been treating him, but they did and Sasuke didn't like it. He had even attempted quite a few times to get the villagers to stop hurting Naruto, but every attempt failed.

He rushed up to the apartment to make sure that Naruto was okay. The door didn't look like it had been forced open, but then the baker wasn't really the strongest man. He probably couldn't force the door open even if he wanted to. Sasuke opened the door quietly cursing about how it had been unlocked. He forgot that Naruto started doing that in hopes that the villagers would stop busting down his door. It hadn't worked, but it had made it easier for the villagers who weren't as strong to get into the house.

When he crept into the apartment he was actually surprised to find that Naruto was sitting peacefully at his table enjoying a slice of cake. A cake that was sitting pristinely on his table. "What is that?" he asked. There had to be something wrong with it. There was no way the baker would bring one of his best cakes to Naruto. Maybe it was poisoned. Sasuke stiffened at the thought, but Naruto seemed to be fine.

"The baker brought it," Naruto said. He seemed to be just as confused as Sasuke was.

"Is it good?" asked Sasuke. He was trying to ask if it had been poisoned, but he couldn't bring himself to sound as worried as he was.

Naruto seemed to know what he meant. "The baker had a bite before he left," he said.

"Can I try some?" asked Sasuke. He still didn't quite trust the baker. If the baker had poisoned the cake he could be rushing back to his bakery where the antidote would be.

Naruto nodded and handed him a bit of the cake. He took it cautiously. It was delicious, but he could detect no hint of any sort of poison or anything like the sort.

"Why did he bring it?" he asked.

"He said it was a birthday cake for me," answered Naruto.

Sasuke was still suspicious, but he felt bad for pressing the matter. This was the first seemingly nice thing that any of the villagers had done for Naruto. And it was on his birthday too. He would not ruin the way Naruto felt at the moment no matter what he thought. "We have to go to the bridge now."

Naruto nodded. Then he looked over to the cake. "What do I do with it? I don't want it to go to waste."

"Don't worry," Sasuke said. "Just put the top over it and put it in the fridge. It shouldn't get stale in there."

Naruto nodded and did as he was told before he and Sasuke left to head to the bridge where they were to meet their team members.

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Thank you all who reviewed. I was not expecting to get 5 reviews so quickly.

I do have the next chapter written, but I'm going to post in on Saturday unless I get 5 reviews before that.


	3. Chapter 3

On their way to the bridge where they were to meet the other two members of their team they kept getting stopped by villagers who wanted to say happy birthday to Naruto. Those who didn't stop them would look up and smile at him as they waved at him. One person had even been bold enough to hand Naruto a bentou, claiming that they thought that Naruto should stop eating so much ramen and that the bentou would be a good start. Though Naruto didn't quite trust the villagers, he held the bentou close to himself anyway and thanked the woman. He had no clue why everyone was all of a sudden being so nice to him, but he planned to enjoy it for however long it lasted.

Sasuke was not so nonchalant about it. With everyone that came up to them, Sasuke would tense even more. He knew this tactic. They would be nice to him for a few days and then they would go back to hating him. It was a way to maximize the pain that Naruto felt. He wanted to tell Naruto that none of this was true, but the hope that he was finally being accepted was beginning to fill Naruto's eyes and he couldn't take that away from the boy even if it was to protect him.

They arrived at the bridge to find that Sakura was the only one there. Not that that was a surprise. She immediately walked happily up to Sasuke and, by shoving Naruto out of the way, grabbed onto his arm so that she could try to get him to go out with her. Naruto stumbled back and dropped the bentou that the nice villager had given him. It clattered on the floor and all of its contents spilled out. He quickly reached down and scooped up the contents to put as much of it back in the bentou as he could. It was all probably bad now that it had touched the ground, but he was not going to waste the bentou that the nice villager had given him. He was about to tuck the box back under his arm when a woman appeared beside him. He flinched at her sudden closeness to him, fully expecting the woman to hit him or do something else to hurt him.

"You shouldn't eat that," she said in a stern voice that sounded somewhat motherly. "It hit the ground and now it's bad. You'll get sick if you eat it."

"But the lady was so nice when she gave it to me," Naruto said as he looked down at the box. He didn't know what to do. He would feel bad if he didn't eat the bentou, but he also didn't want to get scolded by one of the villagers. "I don't want it to go to waste."

"Why don't you feed it to the birds?" the woman said kindly. "I'm sure they'll enjoy it, and then it won't go to waste."

"Really?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Of course," said the woman, "and I'll even make you another bentou to replace that one."

"You don't have to do that," Naruto said frantically.

"You have to have something to eat," said the woman.

"I don't want to be a bother," Naruto admitted.

"Oh it's no bother at all," the woman smiled. "I have to make my husband's bentou anyway. I'll just make two."

"Thank you," Naruto said somewhat awkwardly. He had to admit the way the villagers were acting was strange and it was kind of freaking him out just slightly. He was going to have to keep his guard up for whenever one of them decides to break this odd pattern and attack him when he's least expecting it.

Sasuke watched the woman warily. He fully expected her to do something that would hurt Naruto, but she did nothing. Suddenly, he felt Kakashi's presence right beside him. Apparently their sensei had seen what was going on and had decided to show himself so that he too could make sure that nothing happened to Naruto.

"Today we have a mission," said Kakashi as though he hadn't seen anything that had just happened.

"You're on time," Sakura gasped with wide eyes.

"I can be on time every once in a while," Kakashi pouted.

Naruto looked at him weird. Perhaps he was in a dream or something and that was why everyone was acting so strange. He would wake up and be reinserted into the cruel world that he knew.

"I thought we were supposed to be training," said Sasuke.

"This was a last minute mission that we were specifically requested for," said Kakashi.

"What's the mission?" asked Naruto.

"We are going to be escorting a couple of villagers to visit family members in a different village and then we are going to escort them back home," answered Kakashi.

"Why do they need escorts?" asked Sakura.

"They said that they didn't want to be attacked by any animals or burglars when they were traveling."

"Why were we specifically requested for it?" asked Sasuke. He couldn't shake the feeling that they had really specifically requested Naruto. Probably to get him out of town so that they could do something horrible to him. He didn't like it one bit.

"How should I know," Kakashi shrugged. "I was just told that we had to be the ones to take these people to their destination. Anyway, we have to meet them in about an hour so go ahead and pack up and meet back here." The whole team nodded and Kakashi disappeared.

"Sasuke!" squealed Sakura. "Aren't you excited that we are going on another mission together. Maybe this time we can share a tent."

"No," said Sasuke as he immediately turned around to see that Naruto was already walking away. This actually surprised him because usually Naruto would have jumped in at this moment to offer that Sakura share a tent with him instead. She would say no and then Naruto would complain about it or challenge Sasuke to a fight, but instead Naruto was walking away. Everything was so strange at the moment and Sasuke didn't like it one bit.

* * *

On his way home the woman who had promised to make him a bentou stopped him to tell him to stop by her house before he left so that she could give him the bentou. This confused Naruto because usually the villagers weren't supposed to know about the missions. Perhaps she had just overheard Kakashi talking to them. That would make sense. Other than that, Naruto was stopped several times for people to wish him a happy birthday and give him gifts. One woman even ushered Naruto into a clothing store before he could refuse and, as soon as he had stepped foot in the store, every staff member had come over to show him what they thought would look best on his figure. No one showed him any price tags, but he remembered this store to be really expensive. He would have just thanked them and left, but they insisted that they would not let him leave without at least three different outfits.

When he finally found three outfits he liked, and the woman paid a price that he wasn't able to see, he was finally allowed to go home to pack. He debated for a moment whether or not he should pack his new clothes. He didn't want to leave them behind because the things that got left behind when he was on missions usually got destroyed, but he was also afraid to bring the outfits with him because he didn't want them to be destroyed or lost on the mission. That would just waist them. Finally he decided that he would change into one of the outfits and pack the other two. He chose a low cut pair of loose-fitting jeans that had an area on his right side to put his weapons pouch and a white long-sleeve shirt with a black fishnet top that hooked around his thumb. He inspected himself in the mirror, making sure that none of his scars were showing, and then slipped the other two outfits into his bag along with other supplies that he thought he might need for the travel.

With that done he quickly left his apartment, leaving it unlocked as usual, and walked back to the bridge. He was a little early so he stopped by the woman's house and she handed him the promised bentou wrapped in a cloth so that it wouldn't open in his backpack. Then he went to wait at the bridge.

* * *

I have good news and bad news. Bad news is that I haven't finished the next chapter yet. Good news is that I'm almost done with it and will post it as soon as I can. I hope you like this chapter too


	4. Chapter 4

Sasuke sat at the bridge with his leg twitching up and down quickly. He had gotten there far too early so his mind was able to roam over anything that it chose to. Today's chosen topic was the change in the villagers' behavior towards Naruto. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't think of any good reason as to why the villagers had all of a sudden decided to start caring for Naruto. The only things that came to his mind were horrible things. He never actually saw how the villagers treated Naruto, but he always knew that they were bad enough to leave scars. He had seen one or two of them on Naruto's arms every once in a while when the too small orange jacket would ride up. He never mentioned it, though, because Naruto seemed to go out of his way to try to hide the marks. Sasuke would never understand why Naruto wanted to protect the villagers so badly after all the things that they did to him, but he would never deny Naruto that wish to do so.

He felt a presence coming towards him and he looked up to find Naruto heading towards him. His eyes widened in shock when he saw Naruto wearing a new outfit that he had never seen before in his life. His immediate thought was that Naruto looked hot in the new outfit, but he forced that to the back of his mind as Naruto came up to him with a blush painted over his cheeks. "Where did you get that outfit?" Sasuke asked.

"Some of the ladies in the village bought it for me," Naruto answered.

"Seriously? Sasuke was shocked. Even if this was all just a ruse to try to hurt Naruto even more, they were taking it a little too far. He knew exactly where those clothes had come from and he also knew that they were _expensive_ because they were designer clothes made specifically to be used by ninjas.

"Does it not look good?" Naruto asked all of a sudden wary about his image for some reason. It was weird. Before, when he had that hideous orange jumpsuit to wear, he never really cared about what he looked like, but now that he had this new outfit he was totally conscious of his appearance.

"No," Sasuke answered. "You look…" He couldn't find the right words to say. Correction, there were no words to describe how good Naruto looked at the moment. The new outfit showed off just enough muscle mixed with curve to make people want to see more. Sasuke couldn't just describe that so easily.

"Oh my gosh Naruto!" Sakura gasped as she arrived at the bridge. Naruto jumped in surprise. He wasn't used to Sakura even noticing he was there except when she had to push him away from Sasuke so it was weird that she had directly spoken to him even before she said good morning to her precious Sasuke. "You look amazing," she praised with hungry eyes.

Naruto backed away from her and found himself accidently pressing against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke stiffened for a second only to find that Naruto's warmth calmed him. "Thank you," he said nervously. She continued to close in on the two of them and Naruto tried to sink even deeper into Sasuke's chest.

"Go away," Sasuke said to Sakura.

"Sorry," Naruto jumped and tried to move away from Sasuke only to find that an arm was wrapped around his waist.

"Not you," Sasuke said. "You can stay here. I was talking to Sakura."

"You're so mean to me Sasuke," Sakura whined even though she continued to advance on Naruto. Her fan girl tendencies would not allow her to back down from such a hot man before her even though he was the Naruto that she had despised and refused so many times. She smirked at this thought. She had refused Naruto so many times before that he would be delighted to go out with her now. Ino would be so jealous. "Let's go on a date Naruto," Sakura purred.

"Um," Naruto stuttered. His crush on Sakura had faded long ago and the only reason that he still chased after her was so that she would stay away from his real crush. So that she would stay away from Sasuke. But he didn't want to hurt her by refusing her after he had asked her out so many times.

"He doesn't want to," Sasuke answered for him.

"I wasn't asking you," Sakura said. "I was asking Naruto."

"I-" Naruto tried again. He really wanted to refuse, but he really didn't want to hurt her.

"Well I answered for him," Sasuke growled. He was actually surprised by how easy it was to protect Naruto. He had had the sneaking suspicion that he might have had a crush on Naruto for some time now, but this moment proved it. Not only had he kept Naruto against him when he usually hated all kinds of physical contact, he was also making sure that Naruto wouldn't go out with Sakura.

"It's not your decision to make," Sakura hissed.

"Now now," said Kakashi as he appeared in a puff of smoke. "Let's calm down Sakura. You'll scare away our clients if you act like that."

Sakura fumed, but said no more.

"Where are our clients?" asked Sasuke.

"They're right here," Kakashi said as he pointed behind them.

There were two men standing on the other side of the team. They looked to be brothers. In fact, they were probably twins. They were smiling kindly at the group, but there was still something that Sasuke felt that he couldn't trust. Something was up and he was determined to figure out what before it hurt Naruto too badly.

* * *

The trip was slow. The men who they were transported kept complaining if they tried to speed up. Apparently one of them had just recently recovered from a broken leg and was still having trouble walking. So the journey was slow and Sasuke didn't like it at all. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen while they were gone. He couldn't shake the feeling that these men were just there to distract them so that whatever was going to happen, happened while they weren't there. That probably meant that whatever was going to happen, was going to happen to Naruto.

"So Naruto," one of the men said.

"Yes?" Naruto asked as he turned from his position at the man's right. Sasuke watched the interaction closely from the back of the group while Sakura, with her position on the other side of the men, and Kakashi, with his position in front, took no notice of the interaction.

"I heard it was your birthday today," he said.

"Yes," Naruto said nervously.

"That's cool," he said. "How old are you now?"

"I'm 15," Naruto answered. He was looking down at his feet awkwardly so he didn't notice how both men flinched at the declaration, but Sasuke did notice it.

"That's awesome," said the villager. "What would a 15 year-old such as yourself want for their birthday?"

"I don't know," Naruto admitted softly. He had already been given everything he ever wanted by this one day of people being nice to him.

"Oh come on," said the man. "There must be something that I can get you."

"You don't have to do that," Naruto gasped.

"But I want to," said the man. "Come on. You're doing us the favor of escorting us out of the village on your birthday. The least my brother and I can do is to buy you a birthday present."

"I really don't need anything," Naruto tried again.

"Birthday presents aren't supposed to be what you _need," _the man said. "They're supposed to be what you _want."_

"Really?" Naruto asked. He hadn't gotten any birthday presents before so he didn't really know what they were supposed to be.

"Well not exactly," the other man cut in. "Presents don't have to actually be what you want, but a lot of the times they are. Most people try to get things that are either practical or more likely to be used. It's like buying a girl jewelry, or a shinobi a special type of weapon. Neither is exactly needed by that person, but they're more likely to use the things rather than something else."

"Yea yea," the first man rolled his eyes. "So what do you want for your birthday?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment. There really was nothing that he could think of wanting. He had learned from an early age that he should never desire anything that he knew he would probably never get, which was practically everything. He had learned to only ever want the necessities and had been ignoring all of the niceties that people had while he was doing it. "I don't know," he said uncertainly. He didn't want to upset the men, but he could really not think of anything that he could possibly want. At least not anything that these two men could give him. The only thing he wanted, other than the villagers' acceptance that seemed to be starting, was for his teammate to love him. Not the teammate that everyone assumed that he wanted, but the male teammate who was only months older than him, but that same man would never love him. "I really don't want anything," Naruto said. He wasn't sure if that would appease the men and he didn't want them to be mad at him, but he really couldn't think of anything. He couldn't even think of any product that he didn't want because he paid so little attention to that kind of stuff.

"Don't worry about it man," the first man smiled. "We'll find something to give you."

"If you want something in the village that we're heading to," the second man continued, "be sure to point it out and we'll get it for you."

"A-alright," Naruto nervously bit his lip and Sasuke had to hold back a growl. He couldn't believe that Naruto was acting so nervous around the town's people. They were just villagers and Naruto could cut them to shreds without a second thought, so why was Naruto allowing them to reduce him to nothing more than a stuttering nervous mess.

The first man swung his arm over Naruto's shoulders and laughed at his reaction, making both Naruto and Sasuke tense. Naruto tensed because he wasn't used to the affectionate contact and thought that the man had intended to hit him, while Sasuke tensed because the man was putting a (possibly) dangerous hand on _his _Naruto. Then the man released Naruto and moved back. Naruto relaxed and all was well again. And, if Sasuke just a little bit closer with his hand tightening on a kunai, it was just because he wanted to be ready to protect the villagers if they were to get attacked.

* * *

I told you i'd be done with this chapter soon. I hope you guys like it


	5. Chapter 5

Okay guys. I'm really sorry that it's taken me forever to write up this chapter. I had the meanest writers block for it. Hopefully the next chapter will come out more swiftly. I hope you like this one though.

* * *

It didn't take them long to reach the village since it was right next to Konoha, but they didn't actually enter the village as they veered off to the right.

"Alright," the more outgoing of their two charges said. "Follow me and I'll take you to our mother's house."

The other man just rolled his eyes and followed the first with team 7 close on his back.

"My mother is going to love you guys," the outgoing one continued.

"She loves everyone," the other sighed.

"Well yea," the outgoing one continued, "but she's going to love you guys. She'll probably invite you to stay the night at her house so that you don't have to sleep in a hotel."

"We aren't going to stay that long," the other reminded him. "We have to get back before the end of the day. This is just a quick visit."

"Well that's true," said the outgoing one, "but she'll still offer it won't she? She always tries to make us stay so much longer than we really should. It's like she's trying to make us move in with her." He continued to ramble as they all walked through the town until they came upon an old house that was set a little ways away from everything. It was a beautiful house surrounded by trees with a garden in the backyard that could just barely be seen from the front. The actual house was small, but it was made to look beautiful so that size didn't really matter.

"Here we are," the other man interrupted his brother when they arrived at the front door.

"Oh," the outgoing one laughed, "I hadn't even noticed."

"I could tell," the other rolled his eyes.

"Your so mean to me brother," the outgoing one whined playfully before ringing the doorbell.

It didn't take long for the mother to rip the door open and encompass her two sons in a hug. "Oh how I missed you!" she exclaimed happily. "You two don't visit often enough. You have to visit more."

"Of course mother," the other man agreed nonchalantly. They had this conversation almost every time that they came to visit because, no matter how many times they really did come to visit, it would never be enough for their mother who wanted to spend every moment with them.

"Well come in," she said happily before she noticed the ninjas that were standing just behind her sons. "Oh!" she said happily. "You brought ninjas with you. I get to see them so rarely these days. Come in. Come in. I'll be sure to make you something nice to eat. Maybe some biscuits. I'm sure you're all hungry after your trip over here."

"Thank you," Kakashi smiled kindly and moved to step into the house. Unfortunately, this move also exposed Naruto to the gaze of the kind old woman.

"What is that thing doing here?" she hissed as soon as she saw him. Sasuke immediately moved in front of Naruto in protective gesture, but even his physical presence could do nothing to protect Naruto from the words that she lashed out. "Why did you let that monster come with you to bring my precious sons to me. He could have hurt them. He could have killed them. He would have killed them if you gave him the chance."

"Mom," the older of her sons tried to warn her, but she continued on nonetheless.

"No!" she yelled. "I will not let a demon into my house. He can stay outside and hopefully die of pneumonia or something."

Suddenly there was a kunai at her throat and Kakashi's eye glaring daggers at her. "How dare you speak about that," he hissed under his breath. "You know it is against the law."

"It's not coming into my house," she countered. "I don't care what you do to me, but it is not coming into my house."

"Then neither are we," the outgoing son said as he stepped out of his own mother's house.

"I think that we can just go into town," said the older one, "and then go back home after that. We were planning to get home before dark anyway. Now we'll just come home a bit earlier than expected."

"Don't go!" the woman said frantically. "You just arrived."

"You aren't being nice," the outgoing one said, "so we're leaving."

"No," she pleaded with them. "I'll let the…thing in my house if you stay for a little while longer." Her only response was a glare from her outgoing son as her older son turned and began walking back to the village.

"Come on," the older one said. "I'm sure that we can find something for Naruto in the village before we head back home…Where is Naruto?"

Sasuke turned quickly to see that Naruto was indeed missing. "Damn it," he hissed angrily. "I'll go look for him."

"No," Kakashi stopped him. "Let me go look for him. You go into the village and make sure that no one attacks our charges."

Sasuke wanted to protest, but Kakashi had already disappeared into the woods to find Naruto. Then he wanted to follow the man despite his wishes, but he realized that there had to be a reason that Kakashi wanted to be the one to find Naruto so he begrudgingly left with the men to enter into the village. He was not happy, however, to find that the woman was following them and begging forgiveness from her sons.

* * *

It didn't take Kakashi long to find Naruto. The boy hadn't run far and he didn't make any effort in trying to hide his chakra so Kakashi knew exactly where to go. He did not, however, exactly know what to do when he got there. Naruto was sitting in a clearing, holding himself in the smallest ball that he could manage, and having a panic attack while tears fell relentlessly down his face. Kakashi had the general knowledge on how to deal with a panic attack, but didn't have any experience dealing with this kind of reaction in children since team 7 was actually his first team to train. But he couldn't just leave Naruto there.

"Naruto," he whispered as he crouched in front of the boy. Naruto didn't even look like he heard him. "Naruto, you need to breathe. Take a deep breath in… and let it back out." He was happy to see that Naruto was doing as he was told whether it was consciously didn't really matter. "That's it," he continued. "In… and out… In… and out." Naruto matched his breathing until he was breathing calmly without being told to do so and then Kakashi found that he suddenly had a young boy in his arms while he sobbed.

"They know," Naruto sobbed as he clung to Kakashi's clothes desperately. "They know about me! They know that I'm a demon now."

"That's not true," Kakashi muttered in his most soothing voice as he rubbed circles on Naruto's back. "You are not a demon and they will never think that you are one."

"But they know about the Kyuubi!" Naruto wailed.

"No they don't," Kakashi said as he started rocking back and forth. "They don't know about the Kyuubi. They just think that the old woman was being cruel and trying to hurt you. They don't think that you're a demon. Did you know that our charges immediately left their mother's house when she refused you entrance?" He needed to get Naruto to focus on something else. Something at least somewhat positive.

"They're going to hate me," Naruto continue on his strand of thinking despite Kakashi's attempts to turn it in another direction.

"I don't think that they will hate you," Kakashi responded.

"Yes they will," Naruto said. "They're going to hate me and then they're going to hurt me just like everyone else."

"Come on Naruto," Kakashi soothed. "This isn't like you. You need to stay strong. They won't hate you for something some batty old woman said to you. Sasuke's really worried about you. He wanted to come and find you himself, but I told him to stay with our charges."

"Why?" Naruto asked. His mind was finally starting to calm down now and he was starting to think clearly even though his fear that everyone would hate him still remained ever present.

"I didn't think that it was such a good idea for him to be the one who came to comfort you given the circumstances," Kakashi replied honestly, "but he was really worried and I think he really wanted to hurt that old woman despite the fact that is against ninja policy to hurt civilians."

"Did he really?" Naruto asked as he finally looked up at Kakashi with his eyes red and puffy, but letting out less tears than before.

"Yea," Kakashi nodded. "And our charges said that they are going to explore the village and then return home so that we can get there before nightfall. Do you want me to take you to ramen when we get home? As a birthday treat?"

"Tomorrow?" Naruto asked not willing to say that he was afraid of what would happen if he went out during the Kyuubi festival that always occurred on the night of his birth. Even though the villagers had treated him nice through the day, he did not want it to change when the Kyuubi festival started like it no doubt would.

"Tomorrow," Kakashi agreed easily. "Now come on. Let's go back and join everyone else. I'm sure they're all worried about you."

"Okay," Naruto agreed as he scrubbed his eyes clean. He had to pull himself together. He was a ninja and he didn't need to be having a panic attack every time someone mentioned the demon in front of Sasuke. He had to be strong if he wanted to be Hokage.

* * *

I've realized that I've never given the villagers who team 7 escorts a name so I'm just going to admit this now. I am horrible at making up names. I'm sorry about this, but bare with me and I'll make sure that anyone who is going to be a big part to the story as a whole has a name. I'm really sorry about this.


	6. Chapter 6

Sasuke was not happy. He wanted to be helping Naruto and yet he was stuck with this old woman trying to plea her case to her sons while they were for Naruto and Kakashi to return. She kept insulting Naruto while she spoke, trying to say that she couldn't be blamed for the way that she acted because he deserved it, but every word that she said just made her sons, and Sasuke for that matter, angrier at her. And then Sakura had decided to take this chance while they were "alone" to try to get close to him again even disregarding the way she had treated him when she was chasing after Naruto. Sasuke sneered at the fickleness of the woman. She was hanging on his arm and he was doing everything in his power not to just stab her and the old lady with a kunai and get this all over with. Instead, he continued to glare at the woods, waiting at the village entrance for his other teammates to return.

Sasuke exhaled a sigh of relief when they did step through the trees, but it was immediately replaced by an angry sneer at the woman for insulting Naruto. Naruto looked completely exhausted and his eyes were swollen from too many tears and there was a wet patch on Kakashi's chest from where Naruto had cried on him. Sasuke wanted to be the one to help Naruto and have Naruto cry on his chest, but he ignored the urge since the time for it had already passed.

All hell broke loose once again when the two of them got close enough. "You brainwashed my babies!" the old woman pointed an accusing finger at Naruto. "You poisoned them against me."

"Come on," the outgoing one rolled his eyes before he smiled kindly at Naruto. "Let's go into town. Maybe we can find you something nice for your birthday while we're at it."

"If you're sure," Naruto said nervously trying to ignore the old woman who was still accusing him of taking her children from her.

"Are you listening to me?" she screamed.

"There's a ninja store that we can go to," the older one said. "I think you might find something that you like there."

"Okay," Naruto nodded before following the outgoing one into the village.

"You guys go ahead," the older one said. "I'm going to stay back for a little while."

"You better come back soon," the outgoing one said.

"Make sure to get something nice Naruto," the older one said with a dismissing hand wave to his brother.

Sasuke made sure to stay close to Naruto this time. He did not want a repeat performance or anything that could possible harm Naruto. He also wanted to show Naruto, in his own way, that he was there for him. When Naruto noticed his closeness, he couldn't help but to smile at him. He understood and it meant the world to him.

"So where do you want to go first?" the younger brother asked once they were far enough away from the oldest and their mother for it to not be awkward.

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged. "Maybe the ninja store."

"Sounds good," the man said. "I'm sure that you'll find something that you like there. I'm told that they have the best stuff. Not that I actually know since I'm not a ninja."

Naruto smiled cautiously. He had let his guard down already around this family and had gotten hurt so he didn't want to do it again, but it wasn't the brothers that had hurt him. It was all so confusing.

It didn't take long for them to reach the ninja store. It was close to the gate and on the main roads so that even the travelling ninjas would see it and stop by. In fact, it was probably the travelling ninjas that they sold most of their stuff to seeing as they were in a small town that was made specifically for catering to the travellers.

The shop didn't look at all special, but all of the ninjas could see the value in it. There were a few scrolls, probably collected as payment for other stuff, placed on the table that sat just in front of the door so that everyone could see it when they entered. Then, farther back in the store, there were several weapons carefully laid out for full viewing. Each one was masterfully created with some of the finest metals. This place could not be cheap.

"Hi," the shopkeeper said as he emerged from the back room. From the small glimpse that they got of said room, it looked like it was where the man created all these weapons. "How can I help you guys?"

"It's his birthday," their charge said as he pointed to Naruto. "We're hoping to find him a present among your store."

The man's eyes lit up when he saw Naruto. He had heard what the people were saying about the Kyuubi vessel and he was eager to repent for his own wrongdoings towards the boy. Not that he had ever met him, but there had been times where he had cursed him and sworn that he would never allow any of his weapons to be sold to him. He was happy that his first impression would be of a good one. "All right," he said as he moved closer to him. "Is there any particular type of weapon that you want?"

"I don't know," Naruto answered as he looked around with awe at all the weapons around him.

"Well what type of a fighter are you?" the shopkeeper asked.

"I fight close-range," Naruto answered.

"Alright then," the shopkeeper nodded. "We have gauntlets-"

"I can't wear gauntlets," Naruto interrupted as he though about how they wouldn't work with his Kyuubi form, but then he realized how rude he had been and apologized profusely.

"Don't worry about it," the shopkeeper laughed. "So not gauntlets. Let's see. Do you know what your affinity is?"

"It depends," Naruto frowned. "Sometimes I'm wind," which was on a normal day, "but sometimes I'm fire," which was on a Kyuubi day.

"Hmm," the shopkeeper thought for a moment. "I would suggest a sword, but you seem to be more of a hand-to-hand type of guy." Naruto nodded at this. He really didn't like having any big or long weapons in his hand for an extended period of time especially since they interfered with most of his jutsus. "Now this is a tough one."

"I'm sorry," Naruto frowned.

"Oh no no," the shopkeeper waved him off. "I'm sure that there's something that will work for you.

"Maybe we should go look around a bit more," the brother suggested, "and we can come back here later to check it out."

"Okay," Naruto nodded.

"I'll keep thinking about it," the shopkeeper said to them. "Don't you worry about it."

* * *

Alright guys. I desperately need your help on this one. i cannot, for the life of me, think of the perfect weapon for Naruto.

**PLEASE HELP!**

Do you have any suggestions for weapons for Naruto?


	7. Chapter 7

You guys had so many great suggestions that I couldn't really decide between any of them so I kind of combined them all. You'll understand when you get to that point. Thank you everyone who gave me all those ideas.

* * *

Their charge took them to all the best places. Several different stores, any snack areas, and even a nice restaurant for lunch. While they were out, their charge also bought Naruto a stuffed orange fox that Naruto thought looked particularly cute even though he hadn't said that he wanted.

"You don't have to get it for me," he frowned.

"Nonsense," the man laughed. "It's your birthday. You deserve gifts on your birthday." He suppressed the wince that wanted to shake his cool when he spoke those words since he was well aware that no one had bothered giving Naruto anything for his birthday in the past.

"Okay," Naruto muttered. He probably would have argued a little bit more, but he _really _liked the fox plushy and he had never owned his own stuffed toy before. Sasuke couldn't help but let a little smile slip onto his face when he saw Naruto's reaction to his new present. He also couldn't help but reprimand himself for not thinking of getting the boy something like that before.

"I think we should probably go back to the weapon's store," their charged glanced at his watch. "We don't want to keep him waiting for too long."

"But I already got my present?" Naruto tilted his head in curiosity and his chin just so happened to catch the foxes head in such a way that it tilted too. It was all very cute in Sasuke's eyes even though he would probably never admit it.

"Don't worry about it," their charge smiled. "Come on."

* * *

It didn't take them long to make their way to the weapon's store. They were on the other side of the village, but the village wasn't very big. There also weren't very many people to bump into while they walked so they were able to walk generally quickly to the store.

When they got there, however, Naruto cringed and slipped behind Sasuke. The old woman was standing outside of the building with her eldest son looking angry to be there.

"What's she doing here?" the younger one hissed at his brother.

"She is here because she wants to apologize to Naruto," the elder replied before glaring at his mother. "Isn't that right mother?"

"Yes," she hissed through her teeth. Her oldest son had already related all of Naruto's situations to her, but still she could only see the demon that he was. She wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her son threatening that neither of them would ever come back to see her if she didn't apologize. "I'm sorry," she bit out.

Naruto nodded, but still remained hidden behind Sasuke. He didn't want to deal with the people that hated him anymore. He didn't want them to tell his friends everything and make them hate him too. The woman had been so close to revealing his secret earlier. He didn't want to ever come that close again.

Sasuke glared at the woman who flinched, but did nothing more. Everyone knew about Sasuke's glare. Most people in Konoha had gotten used to it. None of them liked to have that glare pointed at them, but it stopped bothering them so much when they realized that he pointed it at everyone except Naruto. Those that didn't live in Konoha, however, weren't used to his glares so they affected them much more.

"Let's go inside," the older smiled. "Mother has promised to buy you whatever you want from this store."

The old woman went to protest, she had promised to buy something cheap for the demon, but decided against it when her son gave her a simple look and then walked into the store.

"You're back!" the shopkeeper smiled when they walked in. "I found the perfect thing for you." He went to the back room and returned with two daggers. "I know that you said you wanted your hands to be free, but just give this a chance. You fasten the sheathe of the daggers to each wrist and they go in and out quickly and easily." He demonstrated this. The dagger almost seemed to be thrust out of the sheathe and into the guys hand and then it was practically pulled back into the sheathe when he replaced it. He pulled it out again and handed it to Naruto who examined the intricate carvings curiously. "Those," the shopkeeper said without any prompting, "are carved into the hilt so that you can use your elemental chakra. My elemental chakra is earth so watch this." He took the dagger that he still held in both hands and suddenly earth grew around it to make a sword. The thing continued to grow until it finally got to the point where it became a scythe and it sharpened. "I think these will be perfect for you." He handed the second dagger to Naruto and began fastening it to his wrist before he could protest. "You'll have to get used to them before you're able to use them in battle. It could be dangerous to try to use them before you practice with them."

"We'll get it for him," the older son said. "Won't we mother?"

"Of course," the old woman said in mock politeness. Everyone in the room could hear the contempt in her voice and the shopkeeper was sorely tempted to up the price just for it, but the weapons were already pretty expensive as it was.

"We'll just be waiting outside," the younger brother smiled.

"I do not want to pay this much money on that demon," the woman hissed once the shopkeeper gave her the price of the daggers. They were quite expensive since they were made so intricately with the power to use the different types of chakra

"Oh come on mom," the older son hissed. "It's his birthday. You can at least do something nice for him since you were so mean to him earlier."

"I don't care about that demon," she said contemptuously, "and I refuse to pay such a ridiculously large amount of money for him. If I have to use any money at all on him, I will get him something much cheaper."

"Fine," the older son said. He grabbed a scroll for sealing one's stuff away for travel and handed it to the shopkeeper. "She'll be getting that too."

"What?" the woman squawked as the scroll was added onto the price.

"You said that you would only spend money on him if you got something cheaper," the older son shrugged. "So I gave you something cheaper to buy."

"I didn't mean that I would buy both of them."

"Well I really don't care," the older son said. "You are going to buy that boy his presents and then you are going to hand them to him and walk away without saying anything more than a happy birthday or neither me nor my brother will ever come back to see you again."

"Fine," the woman grumbled as she took at the allotted amount. She had already tried to convince him that he was being brainwashed and had failed. Now her only chance was just to go along with it if she ever wanted to see her sons. She was not going to let the demon take away her sons like he took away her husband. She wouldn't let it happen this time.

* * *

Thanks again to everyone who helped me figure out what to make his weapon. You guys are all awesome!


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